Autonomous vehicles, such as vehicles that do not require a human driver, can be used to aid in the transport of passengers or items from one location to another. Such vehicles may operate in a fully autonomous mode where passengers may provide some initial input, such as a pickup or destination location, and the vehicle maneuvers itself to that location.
When a person (or user) wants to be physically transported between two locations via a vehicle, they may use any number of taxi services. To date, these services typically involve a human driver who is given dispatch instructions to a location to pick up and drop off the user. Generally, these locations are worked out via physical signals (i.e. flagging down the driver), a phone call where the user explains where he or she actually is, or an in-person discussion between the driver and user. These services, while useful, generally fail to provide users with exacting information about where a pickup or drop off will occur.